My collegues think I'm nuts.  My family is already used to me. I start Christmas shopping in September, well, technically, all year long. It makes perfect sense to me.

1. I avoid the challenges of finding a parking space at the mall - and lugging around two children in the snow;
2. I spread out my payments thoughout a few month - makes January a little more bearable;
3. I have enough time (sometimes it takes longer than 3 weeks during the holiday season) to order special personalize gifts.  Great family calendars for Grandma, personalized mugs with the kids photos from the Superstore Photo Lab
4. I take advantage of my reward points on Airmiles and PC Mastercard.  I pre-authorize my payments to charge my credit card - Phone, Car Insurance, Cable, everything I can, thoughout the year.  As the holidays approach, I redeem them for gift cards or groceries.  Gift cards from Air Miles, include Chapters/Indigo, The Bay/Zellers.  I do some of my holiday shopping with those.  Let's not forget Shoppers Drug Mart - they also have an Optimum Reward Program.  The trick here is to try to save your points, so you have enough.

So if you see me at the mall during the holidays, I'll be the one, strolling along slowly, admiring the beautiful displays and scents, sipping a warm hot chocolate, and enjoying the magical season with my children. Oh yeah, I'll be giggling inside. Who's nuts now?